Best deal in a simple cell phone plan

[RustyA]

Cricket owned by att. 4 lines unlimited talk text and data $100 per month billed to credit card. No tax or fees extra. Buddy up with another couple and share the account. No keeping track of minutes or vs. Full function android phones for $100-150 and good in store service. You can bring your own phones too. Been with them for 5 years now.

 

[caver]

First was a Tracfone throw-away. Good coverage back in the day when I would travel out west. When I upgraded to a smart phone I bought my own unlocked phone and went with Cricket. If I lived out west in certain states I would probably go with whatever pay as you go Verizon has since they seem to have better coverage in certain states.
My Samsung S4 is showing its age and is not compatible with newer apps since I can't upgrade anymore on the Android. $35 a month unlimited talk text and I think 5 gig on data.
I've never come close to hitting 5gig. We have a Cricket store in town that helped me when I goofed up on downgrading my plan and the website didn't like something I did. they had it sorted in a few minutes.

 

[lennyzx11]

I would really love to get a brick phone connected to cellular coverage.

Imagine whipping this big boy out in Walmart!




And now back to the thread. Sorry...

 

[RalphVa]

We just buy minutes, about $100/yr, on an AT&T phone. No pictures.

Got CaptionCall on my iPad. It's free. A new CaptionCall phone on my desk is also free.

Ralph

 

[Oaktree]

You need to ask locals what the best service is if you don't already know.

That's the key...that inexpensive phone is no bargain if it doesn't work where you live. ATT, for example is almost useless around here but Verizon has pretty good coverage. Other areas may be the opposite.

 

[MarkF48]

My first Tracfone that I got used AT&T as a carrier and I couldn't make a call from my own home. I swapped that phone out to one that uses Verizon as a carrier and have not had any problems of dead spots in most of my travels around Massachusetts. Tracfone has a coverage map on their site based on your zipcode. Not sure if other cellphone providers might have coverage maps as well.

 

[Diggin It]

^^ That's going to be a problem if TF is assimilated into the VZW collective. Why would AT&T or T-Mobile want to sell their services to VZW the way they now to with TF? Why would VZW want to buy their services that way TF does now? My TF phone is on AT&T/TMobile because VZW's signal is no good. And the phones are not compatible, so anybody using a AT&T/TMobile phone may be booted off or required to replace their phone.

 

[TractorGuy]

We had phones through some of the resellers for a while. Can't remember if it was Straight Talk or Virgin but one of them used different carriers depending on which phone you got. We had phones that were going through Verizon. I went and bought the wife a Samsung S4 from the SAME reseller we had and that phone was connected through AT&T. When I took it back the store person said you could look at the color of the coverage map on the bottom corner of the box to tell which carrier it would connect to.

That was when I discovered I could buy one directly from Verizon for a few bucks more and the service cost was the same or less.

As I said before we never had a Samsung phone that didn't have or develop a problem. Usually serious enough we couldn't use it. Since we've had Motorola phones we have not had ANY issues except the one time the wife broke hers. Keep the simplest of protective case on them and they stand up to being dropped or anything short of submersing in water.

If you already have a phone that works for you you can probably convert it to prepaid with your existing carrier and save money.

 

[MIkeWard]

Greetings,

As my last child reaches the age of 30 I have decided it is time to boot them off of my plan so I can get a simple, individual phone plan -- one without a lot of bells and whistles, and not a lot of data [like, I just want to make phone calls and use a few key aps]. Having looked around a bit, there seems to be a bewildering array of options and a subtle "catch" built in to every one of them. So I'm turning to our community of learned posters to hear what advice they might offer.

A lot of detailed info here. Actually more that anyone could want!
cell phone info

 

[BoylermanCT]

Tracfone at $15 a month. I have 10,000 minutes banked up, I guess I don't talk on the phone much! I buy used I-Phones from family members who have to have the latest and greatest, but who keep their phones in mint condition.